Applicants submit their primary applications to the UCSF School of Medicine through the normal AMCAS application process. After a preliminary screening, a secondary application is requested, which includes a supplemental application to the JMP. An additional round of screening leads to invitations to visit the JMP for interviews. Successful applicants are then accepted on a rolling basis. The JMP class has 16 students each year.
Curriculum
The JMP Master's in Health and Medical Sciences and the JMP Helix medical curriculum ensure that JMP students enter their post-graduate training with a deep understanding of the social, behavioral, and ethical aspects of medicine and are well equipped to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving healthcare system. Additionally, the PRIME-US program is a joint opportunity with UCSF providing additional learning opportunities to work with urban underserved communities. And finally, the abundant opportunities available at UC Berkeley provide JMP students with an amazing place to learn and to be inspired. The last two and a half years are spent doing clinical clerkships at UCSF with 3rd and 4th year students from the traditional program. This time is the equivalent of parts 2 and 3 of UCSF's Bridges curriculum.
Helix Medical Curriculum
The Helix medical curriculum consists of two complementary strands: Problem-Based Learning and Workplace Learning & Patient Care. The intertwined strands integrate learning in both classroom and clinical settings. Students’ medical knowledge and clinical skills develop together, as they are applied together in the care of patients.
Problem Based Learning
The practice of PBL is a journey of continuous discovery and knowledge integration. The goals of PBL are not necessarily solving the problems in the cases, but instead identifying learning opportunities, integrating the foundational science underlying medical knowledge, building on previous knowledge, and actively teaching and learning. Most excitingly for students to experience and faculty to watch unfold, through case-based learning JMP students learn to think like doctors.
Workplace Learning & Patient Care
The JMP Helix medical curriculum is designed to optimize the learning-to-practice continuum by interweaving classroom and workplace learning opportunities. What starts in the classroom with PBL, expert instruction, workshop practice and simulation, is extended with students’ placements in real clinical settings in the Workplace Learning curricular strand. Clinical preceptorships begin in the fall of the first year and continue throughout the 3 years.
Masters Thesis Curriculum
The M.S. degree is an academic degree in Health and Medical Sciences and requires writing a research thesis. The topic must be health-related and the research supported by a coherent and scholarly program of study approved by the Master's Faculty. In addition to the thesis research project, Masters classes are also taken throughout the two and a half years at UC Berkeley.
